#David Shulman

[pasparal]

I do not believe that anything I say about what is happening in Gaza will affect Israeli or American policy in that conflict. But I want to be on record so that when historians look back on this moral calamity, they will see that some Americans were on the right side of history.

What Israel is doing in Gaza to the Palestinian civilian population – with the support of the Biden administration – is a crime against humanity that serves no meaningful military purpose. As J-Street, an important organization in the Israel lobby, puts it, “The scope of the unfolding humanitarian disaster and civilian casualties is nearly unfathomable.”

[sivavakkiyar]

David Shulman, God Inside Out: Shiva’s Game Of Dice, from 1997

[ginaraemitchell]

AXION: The Memory Rights Uprising by David Shulman | #BookReview #SciFi #NearFuture #LegalThriller

AXION: The Memory Rights Uprising by David Shulman | #BookReview #SciFi #NearFuture #LegalThriller First Thoughts: AXION: The Memory Rights Uprising is like a rollercoaster ride through a not-so-distant future where neuroscience hits warp speed. David Shulman throws you into a world where the race to decode memories makes the gold rush look like a casual stroll. Book…

[germanpostwarmodern]

House (1972) built for himself in Montecito, CA, USA, by David Gebhard. Photo by Julius Shulman.

[wornoutspines]

Sitting in Bars with Cake (Movie Review) | Casually Poignant

I can't think of another movie not exploiting a devastating diagnosis for sympathie and cheap tears. #SittingInBarsWithCake #Review #YaraShahidi #OdessaAzion #BetteMidler #PrimeVideo #MovieTwitter #MovieReview

Sitting in Bars with Cake is a movie adaptation of a cookbook memoir by Andrey Shulman, who also penned the screenplay. Pitch Perfect 3 director Trish Sie is at the helm and Yara Shahidi, Odessa A’zion (Hellraiser) stars with Bette Midler, Ron Livingston (The Flash, The 5th Wave), Martha Kelly (American Gods), Adina Porter, Navid Negahban (American Sniper) and Rish Shah (Ms. Marvel) round out the…

[hummingbird-hooligan]

happy spotify wrapped to all who celebrate... didn't think indigo girls would rank as high as they did but I've been obsessed with the album Rites of Passage so it makes sense... also shout out to my bitches in Madison, State Unspecified! To my Dessa listeners you are all so cool and sexy... the newest album was a bop... also to my prog rock homies... fuck yeah you rule... my video message was from David Shulman from gentle giant, and it was a sweet little thanks to all the old and new fans <3 bless him <3 also can't believe spotify is calling me out for being an albums guy... although imo everyone should listen to one album all the way through a few times, it's good for you (advice not medically sanctioned)

peace and love on planet earth, hope everyone enjoys their music <333 listen to weird shit <333

[insanityclause]

Tom Hiddleston, Jenna Coleman, Sheila Atim and David Tennant are among the stars celebrating London’s stage talent at the 67th Evening Standard Theatre Awards on Sunday.

They will be at the event at Claridge’s joining Tuppence Middleton, Omari Douglas, Layton Williams, Hayley Atwell, Jake Shears and his Cabaret co-star Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem, among others, to hand out awards.

The event, hosted by the newspaper’s proprietor Lord Lebedev with the help of Ian McKellen, is presented by Susan Wokoma. The writer and actor, who played Edith in the Enola Holmes films and whose stage work includes appearances at the Bush, the National and the Royal Court, is about to start work on Three Weeks which she will direct and star in.

She said: “Theatre is always a labour of love and London stages have faced their fair share of difficulties in the last few years. So I think it’s paramount we celebrate excellence while we can.”

Among the awards presented on the night are best play, best actor and the Milton Shulman Award for best director which is named after the Standard’s late theatre critic. Other awards include the Natasha Richardson Award for best actress in association with Mithridate and the Charles Wintour Award for most promising playwright — named in honour of the paper’s editor for many years.

Also awarded on the night is the Lebedev Award, which is given to an individual or institution for lifetime achievement or a specific critically-acclaimed piece of work or series as well as two special Editor’s Awards.

Among those in the running are Paul Mescal, shortlisted for best actor for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire, with his co-stars Anjana Vasan and Patsy Ferran up for best actress. Mescal is up against Andrew Scott, who won in 2019 and is shortlisted for Vanya, as well as Paapa Essiedu for The Effect, and Mark Gatiss for The Motive and the Cue. The shortlist for best actress is completed by Rachael Stirling for Private Lives and Sophie Okonedo for Medea.

Also in the running is Nicole Scherzinger for Sunset Boulevard. She is nominated for best musical performance along with Charlie Stemp in Crazy For You, Kyle Ramar Freeman in A Strange Loop and Marisha Wallace in Guys & Dolls.

James Graham’s Dear England is shortlisted for best play alongside Jack Thorne’s The Motive and the Cue, Sam Holcroft’s A Mirror and Ryan Calais Cameron’s Retrogade.

Previous winners at the awards, which were first presented in 1955, include Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Laurence Olivier, Benedict Cumberbatch, Gillian Anderson and Glenn Close.

[xox000xox]

250 Hollywood Celebrities Sign Letter Demanding Big Tech Censor Anyone Who Opposes Trans Surgeries On Kids

Here are the names of every celebrity who wants to mutilate children. Remember them & for Gods sake, stop supporting their products, movies, shows etc.

Abby Wambach

Adam Eli

Aitch Alberto

AJ Shively

Alan Cumming

Alejandra Caraballo

Alejandra Ghersi

Alex Clark

Alexandra Gutierrez

Alisa Ramirez

Allie Leonard

Allison Goldfrapp

ALOK Vaid-Menon

Alyssa May Gold

Alyssa Milano

Amber Ruffin

Amber Tamblyn

Amy Schumer

Amy Landecker

Andrew Polk

Angelica Ross

Annaleigh Ashford

Antoni Porowski

Aparna Brielle

Arden Myrin

Ariana Grande

Arisce Wanzer

Avan Jogia

Barbie Ferreira

Bebe Rexha

Bella Ramsey

Ben Barnes

Benito Skinner

Benj Pasek

Bethany Cosentino

Bethany Leavel

Billy Eichner

Billy Porter

Bob the Drag Queen

Bobby Berk

Bonnie Milligan

Brad Oscar

Bradley Whitford

Brandon Matthews

Brendan Hines

Bretman Rock

Brian Smith

Brigette Lundy-Paine

Brittany Tomlinson

Busy Philipps

Caesar Samoya

Camila Cabello

Camille A Brown

Cara Delevingne

Chani Nicholas

Chella Man

Chelsea Handler

Cheyenne Jackson

Chris Perfetti

Christa Miller

Cleo Wade

Colton Haynes

Corey Jantzen

Cynthia Erivo

Cynthia McWilliams

Cynthia Nixon

Cyrus Veyssi

D’Arcy Carden

Dakota Fanning

Dan Levy

Darren Criss

David Shatraw

David Oulton

Debra Messing

Deepica Mutyala

Demi Lovato

Des McAnuff

Devery Jacobs

Diana Maria Riva

Diane Guerrero

Dylan Mulvaney

Ed Droste

Eddie Ndopu

EJ Marcus

Elegance Bratton

Eliot Rahal

Elle Fanning

Elliot Page

Emily Hampshire

Emily V. Gordon

Emma Hunton

Erin Reed

Estefania Pessoa

FLETCHER

Freddy Thomas

Gabrielle Union-Wade

Gigi Gorgeous

Glennon Doyle

Gottmik

Grace Kuhlenschmidt

Griffin Dunne

Haley Baldwin Bieber

Hannah Gadsby

Harry Lambert

Hayley Kiyoko

Hilary Montez

Ilana Glazer

Indya Moore

Isaac Mizrahi

Jackie Bazan

Jacob Tierney

Jai Rodriguez

Jameela Jamil

James Blake

James Scully

Jaymes Vaughan

Jamie Lee Curtis

Janaya Khan

Janelle Monáe

Janet Hubert

Jazz Jennings

Jenna Lyons

Jennifer Kerr

Jeremy Fall

Jessica Betts

Jillian Mercado

Jinkx Monsoon

Joe DiPietro

Jonathan Van Ness

Jonathan Bennett

Jonny Pierce

Jordan Stenmark

Jordan Firstman

Jordan Roth

JP Saxe

Judd Apatow

Justin Baldoni

Justin Tranter

Kal Penn

Kamar de los Reyes

Karamo Brown

Kate Reinders

Katherine LaNasa

Kathryn Grody

Kellie Overbey

Kelly Devine

Kendrick Sampson

Kevin Harrington

Kevin Cahoon

Ki Griffin

Kimber Elayne Sprawl

Kimberly Drew

Kristin Chenoweth

Lachlan Watson

Laith De La Cruz

Laura Terruso

Lauren Jauregui

Laverne Cox

Lena Dunham

Lena Waithe

Lena Hall

Lilly Singh

Lily Rabe

Liv Hewson

Liza Koshy

Lola Tung

Lorin Latarro

Lovell Adams-Gray

Lucky Bromhead

Mae Martin

Mae Whitman

Maggie Boccella

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan

Mandy Patinkin

Marc Jacobs

Marc Kudisch

Marieme Diop

Martha Plimpton

Matt Bernstein

Matt McGorry

Matt Walton

Medalion Rahimi

Meena Harris

Megan Crabbe

Michael D. Cohen

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez

Michelle Buteau

Midori Francis

Miriam Silverman

Moj Mahdara

Mona Chalabi

Montego Glover

Munroe Bergdorf

Nate Wonder

Nats Getty

Neila Karassik

Nicholas Ferroni

Nico Carney

Nico Santos

Nico Tortorella

Nicole Maines

Niecy Nash-Betts

Nik Dodani

Ocean Vuong

Olly Alexander

Our Lady J

Padma Lakshmi

Patrick Stewart

Patti LuPone

Peppermint

Phillip Picardi

Phoebe Robinson

Poorna Jagannathan

Rachel Cargle

Rafael Silva

Ramy Youssef

Randy Shulman

Raquel Willis

Richa Moorjani

Rob Holysz

Robert Horn

Rory Dahl

Rosario Dawson

Rupi Kaur

Sam Smith

Sander Jennings

Sandy Rustin

Sara Bareilles

Sara Ramirez

Sarah Ramos

Sasha Velour

Scott Turner Schofield

Shawn Mendes

Shea Couleé

Shea Diamond

Sherri Saum

Sinead Burke

Solomon Hughes

Stephen Kunken

Susie Park

T. Oliver Reid

Taika Waititi

Tan France

Tatiana Maslany

Tess Holliday

Tiffany Namtu

Tommy Dorfman

Tracee Ellis Ross

Travis Alabanza

Tunde Adebimpe

Vivek Shraya

Wanda Sykes

Warren Carlyle

Wayne Cilento

Wilson Cruz

Yves Mathieu East

Zoë Chao

Zooey Deschanel

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[somerabbitholes]

hii c! do you have any books about the sangam era?

i don't have anything specifically about it, but here are a few that cover it —

A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri — your go-to for south India really. If you want something shorter: Sanskrit Elements in Early Tamil Literature

Tamil: A Biography by David Shulman — a history of the language and the culture it has been part of and signified

The Smile of Murugan by Kamil Zvelebil — about Tamil literature, poetry.

[justforbooks]

The sight of Tevye the milkman shaking his upper torso and stomping out his yearning, melodic, future subjunctive – “If I were a rich man, yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum / All day long I’d biddy biddy bum / If I were a wealthy man … ” – is one of the most indelible in all stage and film history. It is for ever associated with the irrepressible Israeli actor Chaim Topol, who has died aged 87. He played Tevye in the 1967 London premiere of Fiddler on the Roof and in the 1971 Norman Jewison film version. Topol won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination in the role, attending the Oscar ceremony on leave from the Israeli army.

The musical had been premiered on Broadway in 1964, with Zero Mostel as Tevye. The book of Fiddler was adapted by Joseph Stein from the stories of Sholem Aleichem, the insinuating songs written by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock. A fount of Yiddish philosophy (“If you spit in the air, it lands in your face”), Tevye spoke directly to God in the Ukrainian village of Anatevka in 1905 – where, said the theatre critic Milton Shulman, the chief manufacturing goods were schmaltz and lumps in the throat – and came to represent the resilience of the Jewish people down the ages.

Topol (his name means “tree of life”), with his rich bass voice and instant rapport with the audience, was the icing on the strudel. He always deferred to Mostel’s genius as Tevye, and was surprised to be cast in the film. But he brought a passion and warmth to his signature role – which he played on stage in more than 3,500 performances, he estimated – that had possibly eluded the more clownish and hard-edged Mostel.

Topol returned to London in the role in 1983, and toured extensively in the US in the late 1980s, when Rosalind Harris, who played the eldest of his five daughters in the film, played his wife. He faced Broadway at last in 1990. When he played Tevye again at the London Palladium in 1994, he was still only 58. By then, the production and performance – enshrined by contract in Boris Aronson’s Chagall-inspired designs and Jerome Robbins’s brilliant but increasingly overfamiliar choreography – showed signs of creakiness. But Irving Wardle once again hailed Topol’s Tevye as “a living memorial to the comic genius of a tragic people”.

This version toured in Europe, Japan and Australia. Ten years later, Topol and Fiddler returned to Australia, as well as New Zealand, and a farewell American tour soon followed. He played Tevye for the last time in Boston, Massachusetts, on 15 November 2009.

His background had validated the performance. Born in Tel Aviv, Topol was the son of parents who had fled Poland in the 1930s – Jacob, a plasterer who had fought in the Haganah against the British in the war of independence, and Rel (nee Goldman), a seamstress. Like many Israelis of his generation, Topol served in the army in the Sinai campaign, in the six-day war in 1967 (he left the cast of Fiddler at Her Majesty’s theatre, London, for that campaign) and in the Yom Kippur war of 1973.

In the army, Topol, who had two younger sisters, joined an entertainment troupe and then started his own satirical revue company, Batzal Yarok (“The Spring Onion” – “To convey the idea of something fresh, sharp and spicy,” he said). One of his fellow comedians was Galia Finkelstein, who shared his background in the Labour movement and whom he married at the Mishmar David kibbutz in 1956.

Prior to his army service Topol had trained and worked as a printer after leaving school aged 14. He had never considered becoming a professional actor until, after a spell with the Cameri theatre in Tel Aviv, he joined the new Haifa municipal theatre in 1961. His leading roles there included Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, Azdak in Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Jean in Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, which the playwright hailed as the best production ever of his absurdist, surreal play.

He was already well known for the character of Sallah Shabati, an immigrant weighed down with troubles and children who somehow overcomes all adversity. This dry run for Tevye featured in his army revues and a 1964 film (his third) that broke all box-office records in Israel and was nominated for a best foreign-language film Oscar.

International stardom followed in Melville Shavelson’s Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), a war drama about Israel’s struggle for independence, with Kirk Douglas as the American-born colonel David “Mickey” Marcus. Topol played an Arab sheikh, and underlined his versatility by playing a Russian deserter posing as a Slav interpreter in J Lee Thompson’s Before Winter Comes (1969), alongside David Niven, John Hurt and Anthony Quayle.

Still, when he came to London for Fiddler, he spoke hardly a word of English, and was tutored by the Royal Shakespeare Company voice coach Cicely Berry. He later embarked on a happy association with the Chichester Festival theatre, where he played Azdak again (completely bald) in 1969; the Peter Ustinov role of a match-making general in R Loves J, a musical version of Ustinov’s Romanoff and Juliet, with songs by Julian More and Alexander Faris, in 1973; and Othello, with Keith Michell as Iago, in 1975, presenting the tragic Moor, he said, as “a man of the desert, an Arab, blackened by the blazing sun”.

An attempt to follow the success of Fiddler with another musical scripted by Stein, this time with songs by Stephen Schwartz, The Baker’s Wife, foundered on the road and never reached Broadway. And his later film career never eclipsed Fiddler, though he appeared as Brecht’s Galileo in Joseph Losey’s 1974 memorial record of Charles Laughton’s version for the American Film theatre; as the scientist Dr Zarkov in Flash Gordon (1980); and as Milos Columbo, a roguish Greek turncoat, in For Your Eyes Only (1981), opposite Roger Moore’s James Bond.

His television work included an incomplete project to film all the books of the Bible; The House on Garibaldi Street (1979), about the capture of Adolf Eichmann, with Martin Balsam and Janet Suzman; and the 1983 mini-series The Winds of War, and its sequel, War and Remembrance, in 1987.

Topol’s last appearance in London was in the autumn of 2008, when he played the Maurice Chevalier role of the old roue Honoré in a delightful revival of Gigi by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe in the Open Air theatre at Regent’s Park. As of old, he held the audience in the palm of his hand and discharged his two big numbers – Thank Heavens for Little Girls and I Remember It Well – with a laconic, sideways-on delivery and a generous dose of his trademark confidential charm.

His vivid autobiography, Topol By Topol, was published in 1981, and he compiled a treasury of Jewish jokes and wisdom, To Life! (1994), illustrating both books with his own deft line drawings.

Although he kept a house in London and travelled widely, Topol spent half the year at home in Tel Aviv. He helped to found the Jordan River Village, a holiday camp in lower Galilee for chronically ill children of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, which opened in 2012.

Galia and their children, Omer, Adi and Anat, survive him.

🔔 Chaim Topol, actor, born 9 September 1935; died 8 March 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[uhlikzsuzsanna]

Tom Hiddleston, Jenna Coleman, Sheila Atim and David Tennant are among the stars celebrating London’s stage talent at the 67th Evening Standard Theatre Awards on Sunday.

They will be at the event at Claridge’s joining Tuppence Middleton, Omari Douglas, Layton Williams, Hayley Atwell, Jake Shears and his Cabaret co-star Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem, among others, to hand out awards.

The event, hosted by the newspaper’s proprietor Lord Lebedev with the help of Ian McKellen, is presented by Susan Wokoma. The writer and actor, who played Edith in the Enola Holmes films and whose stage work includes appearances at the Bush, the National and the Royal Court, is about to start work on Three Weeks which she will direct and star in.

She said: “Theatre is always a labour of love and London stages have faced their fair share of difficulties in the last few years. So I think it’s paramount we celebrate excellence while we can.”

Among the awards presented on the night are best play, best actor and the Milton Shulman Award for best director which is named after the Standard’s late theatre critic. Other awards include the Natasha Richardson Award for best actress in association with Mithridate and the Charles Wintour Award for most promising playwright — named in honour of the paper’s editor for many years.

Also awarded on the night is the Lebedev Award, which is given to an individual or institution for lifetime achievement or a specific critically-acclaimed piece of work or series as well as two special Editor’s Awards.

Among those in the running are Paul Mescal, shortlisted for best actor for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire, with his co-stars Anjana Vasan and Patsy Ferran up for best actress. Mescal is up against Andrew Scott, who won in 2019 and is shortlisted for Vanya, as well as Paapa Essiedu for The Effect, and Mark Gatiss for The Motive and the Cue. The shortlist for best actress is completed by Rachael Stirling for Private Lives and Sophie Okonedo for Medea.

Also in the running is Nicole Scherzinger for Sunset Boulevard. She is nominated for best musical performance along with Charlie Stemp in Crazy For You, Kyle Ramar Freeman in A Strange Loop and Marisha Wallace in Guys & Dolls.

James Graham’s Dear England is shortlisted for best play alongside Jack Thorne’s The Motive and the Cue, Sam Holcroft’s A Mirror and Ryan Calais Cameron’s Retrogade.

Previous winners at the awards, which were first presented in 1955, include Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Laurence Olivier, Benedict Cumberbatch, Gillian Anderson and Glenn Close.

[mybeingthere]

Kim Høltermand (b 1977) is a photographer from Denmark, based in Copenhagen.

Focusing mainly on architecture, Kim works with elements such as composition, space, light and mood. He says that much of his work bares references to masters of architectural photography; Julius Shulman, Ezra Stoller and Balthazar Korab but also takes inspiration from cinema - more specifically directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, David Lynch and Andrei Tarkovsky.

https://holtermand.xyz/

[russmorris]

Raygun Gothic Rocketship.

Through the Viewfinder

Pentax *ist D, Sigma 28-135mm ƒ/5.6 Macro + Kodak Duaflex II

Nathaniel Taylor, Sean Orlando, and David Shulman.

[wornoutspines]

Sitting in Bars with Cake | Trailer

Yesterday the #OfficialTrailer for Sitting in Bars with Cake came out. Yara Shahidi, Odessa A'zion & Bette Midler star the film adaptation of Audrey Schulman's book. The movie premiere September 8th on #PrimeVideo #SittingInBarsWithCake #BookToFilm

Writer: Audrey Shulman (Novel & Screenplay) Director: Trish Sie Stars: Odessa A’zion, Yara Shahidi, Bette Midler, Maia Mitchell, Ron Livingston, Martha Kelly Premieres on Prime Video September 8th If you want to support this site, help by getting me coffee from the link below:

[abookishdreamer]

WIP Intro- Kissing in the Dark

"We're here! We're queer! We're not going anywhere!"

Genre- YA historical fiction

POV- first person present tense

Status- outlining

Themes- coming of age, identity, sexuality, first love, friendship...

Setting- New York City (1969)

Synopsis- For sixteen year old Max Shulman, being gay is something that is swept under the rug in his conservative Jewish family. His emotionally distant father can't keep the look of disgust off his face while his mother smothers him with overbearing attention & too many latkes! Max is finally looking forward to the summer- being out of school (away from the taunts, bullies, and threats from his former friend) and spending time with his newfound friend- his neighbor Anna. Throughout the scorching hot days & barely cool nights, Max experiences the aching, confusing, & glorious experience of being a teenager- and first love. Soon, something begins bubbling- the gay community finally fighting back! With this act of defiance & courage, Max might just be able to be a little brave too.

Characters-

Max Shulman (main protagonist)

Anna Rizzo (Max's best friend)

David & Margaret Shulman (Max's parents)

Ruby Shulman (Max's older sister)

Todd Wheatly (Max's former friend)

Julian Léon (Max's love interest)

Blossom "Davis" Jones (Max's new friend)

Murad Shirazi (Ruby's boyfriend)

[ariealblogs]

Grammarly Your Ultimate Writing Resource

As writers, words are our raw materials. We use them to write convincing essays, create new characters, and build entire worlds. We can also manipulate words to function in new or surprising ways. We do this through wordplay.

Wordplay is a way for a writer to draw attention to their writing, typically for the sake of entertainment. If you’ve ever paused on a clever turn of phrase, like a pun or a metaphor, then you’ve encountered wordplay.

Give your writing extra polish Grammarly helps you communicate confidently WRITE WITH GRAMMARLY

What is wordplay?

Wordplay is a literary device that authors use to draw attention to their writing, be it a detail, plot point, or character, through some clever arrangement of letters, words, or phrasing. There are many ways to incorporate wordplay into your writing, and doing it well can have various effects on a reader. Wordplay is most often used for levity—to generate a fun, entertaining, or playful atmosphere. But wordplay can also be employed in more serious situations if you want your reader to stop and think.

Are there any rules for wordplay?

There aren’t any formal rules when it comes to using wordplay. You can insert as little or as much as you’d like. It can be subtle or obvious, and it can be humorous or serious. The main objective of wordplay, as its name suggests, is to play with your words.

Examples of wordplay in literature

Some authors rely heavily on wordplay to create a playful or clever tone in their stories.

In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll uses puns, homophones, and alliteration to entertain his readers. For example, in this paragraph Carroll uses alliteration to tangle the reader in Alice’s words:

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary-wise; what it is, it wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?

In A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket hides the letters “VFD” throughout the stories to signal that the main characters are in danger (which is pretty much all the time). This is a clever use of initialism because every time the reader sees three words beginning with those letters (for example: Volunteer Feline Detectives, Vinegar-Flavored Doughnuts) the reader experiences a sense of fear. Even the author’s name, Lemony Snicket, is a pseudonym, or a fake name, which itself is a kind of wordplay.

Examples of wordplay in poetry

Poetry is a great place to find wordplay. You’ll find many literary devices that are considered wordplay in poetry, such as alliteration, rhyming, and tautogram. In the poem “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by David Shulman, every line is an anagram of the poem’s title. That means if you take every letter from any line, you can rearrange them to spell “Washington Crossing the Delaware.”

A hard, howling, tossing water scene. Strong tide was washing hero clean. “How cold!” Weather stings as in anger. O Silent night shows war ace danger! The cold waters swashing on in rage. Redcoats warn slow his hint engage.

16 types of wordplay with examples

1 Acronym

Acronyms are words formed by the first letter or letters of a term. Acronyms are an important part of slang or “internet speak”—BAE, FOMO, YOLO, and even GIF. They are also found commonly throughout business, government (SCOTUS, MEDICAID, SNAP), and other sectors.

2 Acrostic

An acrostic is a composition where specific letters form a new word or words. You’ll find acrostics in some crossword puzzles, where certain letters are circled to form a clue to the puzzle.

Example: The poet Edgar Allen Poe wrote a poem simply titled “An Acrostic.” The poem was about a woman named Elizabeth, and the letters that begin each line, when read vertically, spell “ELIZABETH.”

3 Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of an initial consonant sound in words that are in close proximity to each other.

Example: “And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind, / Which, when it bites and blows upon my body.” —As You Like It by William Shakespeare

4 Anagram

Anagrams take the letters from a specific word or phrase and scramble them to create something new.

Example: dormitory→dirty room

Tom Marvolo Riddle→I am Lord Voldemort

5 Homophone

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings. The most commonly used homophones are “to,” “too,” and “two.” But homophones can be used deliberately in writing to create confusion or humor.

Example: “You see the earth takes twenty-four hours to turn round on its axis—”  

“Talking of axes,” said the Duchess, “chop off her head!”

—Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

6 Malapropism

Malapropism is the incorrect placement of a word or letter, resulting in a comical, nonsensical sentence.

Example: In 2002 a reporter asked boxer Mike Tyson what he was going to do next, to which he responded: “I don’t know. I might just fade into Bolivian.” What he meant to say is that he was going to fade into oblivion.

7 Mondegreen

A mondegreen is what happens when you mishear or misunderstand a phrase in a way that creates a new meaning. This happens often with song lyrics.

Example: Hearing Jimi Hendrix sing “‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy” in the song “Purple Haze” as opposed to the correct lyric, “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky.”

8 Onomatopoeia

Boom! Crack! Pow! Onomatopoeias are words that sound like what they mean.

Example: Comic books often write out onomatopoeias to illustrate impact. In the Batman TV show, sounds like wham!, pow!, biff!, and crunch! appear on-screen.

9 Oxymoron

Oxymorons are phrases that use two contradictory words. You can use oxymorons for entertainment or for dramatic effect.

Example: “O brawling love! O loving hate!” —Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

10 Palindrome

Palindromes are words that read the same backward as they do forward. These can be fun to come up with but tricky to spot.

Example: A man, a plan, a canal: Panama.

11 Pangram

Pangrams are sentences or phrases that display all 26 letters of the alphabet.

Example: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

12 Portmanteau

Portmanteaus are two words blended together to make a new word. The word “motel” is a portmanteau combining “motor” and “hotel.” As wordplay, writers can use a portmanteau to create a new concept that hasn’t been put into words yet.

Example: In Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, Alice comes across the word “slithy,” which stumps her. Humpty Dumpty explains to her: “Well, ‘slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy.’ ‘Lithe’ is the same as ‘active.’ You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.”

13 Pun

Puns are one of the most familiar forms of wordplay because they’re found in spoken language just as often as in written language. Puns are jokes that rely on homophones, or two words that sound similar with different meanings. Particularly witty puns may raise eyebrows; lousy puns get an eyeroll.

Example: Reading while sunbathing makes you well-red.

14 Rhyme

The repetition of identical sounds at the end of two or more words.

Example: If you’ve been on this earth for any amount of time, then chances are you’ve seen a rhyme.

15 Spoonerism

Spoonerisms happen when two letters in a word or phrase are switched, like calling a “butterfly” a “flutter by.” It’s what happens when you talk too fast and your brain doesn’t have time to keep up.

Example: Shel Silverstein’s book Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook is awash in spoonerisms. It follows Runny Babbit (a bunny rabbit) and his friends: Toe Jurtle, Skertie Gunk, Rirty Dat, Dungry Hog, and Snerry Jake.

16 Tautogram

Tautograms are texts where all the words start with the same letter. Note that these are different from alliterations because in the case of tautograms, the sound doesn’t matter as long as the letters are the same. With alliteration, the letters don’t matter as long as the sounds are the same. Tautograms are most often used in poems.

Example: We won’t wallow while we’re writing words.

Wordplay FAQs

What is wordplay?

Wordplay is all the ways a writer can manipulate words to create a new or surprising meaning.

How does wordplay work?

Wordplay works by tripping its readers on words they think they know. When a reader encounters wordplay, they will want to pause and think about the words being used. This helps readers notice the words themselves as well as holds their attention for a few extra seconds.

What is the purpose of wordplay?

Most often, wordplay is used to create a sense of amusement or entertainment for the reader. That’s why the word “play” is part of its title. However, wordplay can also create more serious or complex undertones if used deliberately. Metaphor is one example of wordplay that has a range of effects on its reader.